Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Universality In Hinduism

Translation: They call Him (It) Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni; and He is the heavenly nobly-winged Garuthman ! To what is One, Sages give many a title, Agni, Yama, Matharisvan they call it !!

This verse from worlds oldest written religious scripture basically means that the supreme truth or the ultimate reality is only one and wise people know this truth by different names. This verse forms basis of Hindu or Sanatan Dharma (The eternal religion), where everything perceivable and non perceivable through five senses are essentially one and inseparable from each other. Only a veil of ignorance which is described in Hindu Shastras as Maya or illusion (which seems to be there for senses but not actually present e.g. Mirage) keeps us Jiva away from the supreme soul i.e. Ishwara.

As you dwell your mind deeper into vast oceanic knowledge of Hinduism you will soon realize that there are essentially three stages for worshipping and realizing the ultimate reality. They are Dvaita i.e. Dualistic stage, Vishishta Dvaita i.e Qualified Non-Dualistic stage and Advaita i.e. Non-dualistic stage. There are proponents of all these three stages in Hinduism. Understanding these three systems of thoughts on supreme reality is essential in understanding universality of Hindu System of thoughts and this understanding will result in knowledge of Hinduism as mother religion of every way of worship which exists on earth today.

Dualistic philosophy was mainly propagated by Shri Madhavacharya. As per this philosophy soul and supreme soul are not one and this universe consists of three realities i.e. Ishwara (God), Jiva (Soul) and Jada (Insentient matter). Soul is dependant on the supreme soul and this dependency creates clear distinction between Ishwara and Jiva. Semitic religions like Christianity, islam and Judaism fall in this first stage of religion to certain extent as they also have a clear distinction between the god and humans. Qualified non dualism or Vishishta Dvaita had Shri Ramanujacharya as its biggest propagator. This is a special case of non dualism in which says that even after salvation or Moksha the soul retains its individuality but this system is different from dualism in the sense that it believes that souls share essential nature of brahma or the supreme. Both dualism and qualified non dualism systems believe in supremacy of Lord Vishnu and think of him as the supreme soul. They both believe in cycle or karmas and rebirth of souls and say that only bhakti or true devotion to the lord Vishnu will result in salvation of soul. In that sense these two systems of thoughts belong to monism system of worship and believe in Saguna Supreme i.e God with form and attributes.

The most important and revolutionary system of philosophy in Hinduism is Non Dualism or Advaitwaad. This is the final stage of human philosophy related to GOD, as nothing can go beyond this system of thinking. In this system of thought the living, non living things and the supreme reality are essentially one. This whole world is unreal and Braham is the only reality. This whole universe along with all infinite sky is projection of supreme reality himself. This universe starts, exists and merges in the supreme like the bubble in water. The soul is essentially pure and its part of the supreme himself. A veil of ignorance or Maya keeps us away from our own true nature. When we remove this veil of ignorance than our soul reaches its logical destination and becomes Supreme himself. It achieves him and become him. The sages who achieved the supreme have declared that Aham Brahamasmi i.e. I am him or the supreme. This system of thought believes in Nirguna Braham or God without any form or attributes. Sri Adi Shankaracharya was biggest proponent of this philosophy and logically speaking this philosophy overshadows all other system of thoughts in its content, reach and universality.

The Hindu mind reached pinnacles of glory in ancient times in every walk of life. This glory was of such a magnitude that no other system of its time was even closer to its feet in terms of achievement. Even when one Buddha stood up against prevailing wrong practices in contemporary Indian society, no one dared to harm him physically, even though he was saying things against prevailing customs. Every one challenged him for debate and after losing they became his followers. But compare this to one Christ of west. Christ was at first saying that he is one of the Jews only, his message is for Jews in particular but whole world knows that west crucified Christ for theirs sake and Buddha became 9th Avatar of Lord Vishnu in Hinduism. The point which I am trying to make here is in India we have always given importance to logic and superiority of mind over anything. Its because of this only the kings in times of Vivekananda found great happiness in pulling his chariot in streets of India when he returned back from world religion meeting from US. The wealth and power of the Hindu kings has always bowed down in front of saffron cloths of a monk. We have always looked for gaining spiritual advances instead of material possessions. Our best intellect was directed towards in search of god rather than gold and diamonds.

I believe that if there is any real spirituality left in world than it is our motherland that is Bharat or India. We have to achieve Indias past glory again. If you want a job to be successful than it should be done by learning lessons from past, knowing needs of present and being alert for the future and believe me if we just follow these three things any work is bound to be successful. We all often look for temporary solutions as the permanent one is often more painful and slow process. But by looking for temporary solution we forget most important thing which is fragility or temporariness of that solution. After some time the same problem is bound to rise and we again have to run for some solution. Isnt it would be great that we should just look for one time solid response for the problems, and face it with courage and determination, which may take longer time but wont bother us again.

This thinking is again needed if we want Mother India to regain her crown and past glory. The will of a nation to stand up as one for anything and against everything is the need of the hour. Arise and awake Hindus as this is the only solution to the problems we are facing in India today. Come together, O Hindus we can and we will take back the crown for our beloved mother India and reinstate her as Jagat Guru once again.

Superstitions are part and parcel of every religion please dont single out hinduism for this. Atleast hinduism provide remedy that we change our customs as time changes thats why its a eternal religion.

Temples from time immemorial were patronize by Kings all over the world. And if you have been to US any time than you will see how much wealth these chritian missionaries and muslim maulavis in arabia has amassed. The point is who is using that money for larger welfare of public. In india there are lots of examples who are using this money for common good.

Christ crucified by west..."one christ of west"...Seems like you are a bjp or rss fan..otherwise you would not have made such comments...Christ is not from west and neither he was crucified by west nor did he ever say he is a jew and that his teachings are for jews...

Sabu, Thanks for ur comment.. I would like to ask in which direction do u think Israel is from India? I hope you know its West.. Now for your information here is the verse from bible in which Christ says what I have written in the blog.. {Matthew 15:24} "But he answered and said, I am not sent but untothe lost sheep of the house of Israel."Now do your own research on this verse and look for answers. I am not only fan a of RSS.. I belong to RSS.. I follow its nationalistic ideology and would suggest you to do so too.. May be you dont know RSS well enough.. You see RSS through eyes of "sickular" media of India..

RSS isnt against any religion but against anti nationals..and it doesnt matter which religion they follow.. Christ was a good man..and I dont have problem with him.. as India and Buddism was his guru.. He spent 12 years in India . learning Buddhism and Hinduism.. I have a problem with Churches around the world who has twisted his message to suit their narrow gains.. I hope you understand .. Thanks